Videowall and modular display systems are currently used in control room and entertainment applications. Videowall systems with open frames using CRT projectors are manufactured by Philips. Videowall systems composed of solid frames are manufactured by Electrosonic, Toshiba, Gunderman, Pioneer, and Mitsubishi. These products traditionally use straight and folded optical systems, the difference between the two being the need for a mirror and the increased importance of rigidity in the design of the videowall module.
Projections cubes may use CRT, LCD, or DLP imaging systems. These systems have an innate video format that depends on the imager. Most imagers have had a 4:3 ratio and so the construction of the frame often provides for this format. More recently 16:9 ratio imagers have been used in videowall systems.
In this disclosure, the words “cube” and “projection cube” refer to the box like shape of standard modular projection displays. These terms are considered generic and could be used to describe a module from any system where a display is contained in a stackable housing.
In the videowall or projection cube setting, the fixed format of the imager has a direct impact on the lamp requirements in the LCD and DLP based systems. In most cases, both light and processing power are wasted because the entire imager is not used.